The objectives of this project are: (1) to demonstrate that many of the communication difficulties arising as participation of ethnic minorities in industry and public affairs increases,--which are usually attributed to culture conflict,--are in fact due to systematic differences in the perception and interpretation of conventional verbal and nonverbal signals or contextualization cues produced in the course of an interaction; (2) devise empirical methods for isolating these cues and showing how they affect interpretation; (3) on the assumption that the interpretive processes involved are subconscious, experiment with ways of making their effect explicit and alerting participants to the possibilities of misunderstanding; (4) lay the foundations for training procedures which can be used for: (a) training minority group members in intergroup communication, (b) training social workers, personnel officers, health officials and others to become more effective in dealing with minority groups. Data are collected in cooperation with public agencies affected by intergroup communication problems. In the last two years audio- and vidoetape recordings of discussion and interview sessions involving East Indians and West Indian in England and Blacks and White in California have been collected. These were analyzed using sociolinguistic methods of conversational analysis. The resulting case studies were discussed with original participants or other ethnically mixed groups, to validate findings and explore possible training procedures. In the current year and during the two year renewal period, this case study method will be extended to other minority groups in California. An experimental course applying our findings to problems of industrial communication is planned for 1977-78. Plans are also being made for the preparation of video and audiotape training modules. By 1980 we expect to complete a set of training materials, giving relevant background in sociology and sociolinguistics of interethnic along video- and audiotape modules.